Beholding Eyes
by sunshinefish
Summary: Bella is forced to move from foster home to foster home and expects nothing less than this life until she is old enough to take care of herself legally. Then she meets the Cullens... AH
1. Feel Welcome

**BPOV**

Another home, another family, another time of strange looks being shot my way. It doesn't matter how I got into this mess, but suffice it to say, I'm not getting out of it any time soon.

I have limited knowledge of my new foster family. It's large. There are three boys and two girls. Three of them are adopted if I understood what I was told correctly. At least I won't be completely out of place.

Who am I kidding? I'll be out of place. It's easy to see that I am severely damaged goods. I'm covered from head to toe in scars I got from a fire that killed my parents a few years ago. I had third degree burns on a lot of my body. So, I am ugly and bitter. Who wants to look at me? I barely look at myself. Most people don't want to deal with me. Therefore, I get passed from family to family a lot. There is no way it could be different with this family.

Or so I thought until I actually met them. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with this family. It's impossible.

* * *

I get off of the plane and look around. No one seems to be looking for a sixteen-year-old. And definitely not one with a haunted look about her. Until someone walks up to me and smiles brilliantly.

"Hi! Are you Bella?" she asks me more happily than I am used to or think anyone should be when meeting me.

I'm not sure what to make of her, so I respond hesitantly, "Yes."

"Awesome! I'm Alice, your new sister!" Normally this much peppiness gets on my nerves as it is the direct opposite of my personality, but it seemed to fit her perfectly.

"It's very nice to meet you, Alice," I say politely.

"C'mon! Let's get your stuff and take you home." Again, peppy, but still natural for her. In a way that's not quite annoying.

Alice spent the drive home telling me about her family. She somehow knew I didn't want to talk about myself, so she didn't make me talk all that much.

One thing Alice didn't seem to realize was that she was telling me a lot of information very fast. I did the best I could to remember what she said, though. This would be my family until they decide they don't want me anymore. Which, from past experience, they would want to get rid of me pretty quickly. That way they would be able to get someone a little easier to deal with.

From the barrage of information, I did manage to get some idea of what her family is like. She and her twin brother, Edward, are seventeen, and they are the only two kids in the family not adopted. Jasper and Rosalie are siblings the Cullen's adopted together. They fight a lot, being only a year apart, but still stick together and are pretty close. Emmett was adopted on his own. He is two years older than me – the same age as Rosalie – and a senior in high school. Their parents are Carlisle and Esme. Alice told me I didn't have to worry about formalities and could just call them by their first names. At least she didn't say I had to call them mom and dad. I've had some families who tried to do just that. It never ended well.

From what I could tell, this family wouldn't be too hard to live with in the short time I was here. At the very least, it could be much worse.

As I walked into the house, I was surprised. There must be something wrong. No family had ever thrown a party just because they were getting a new foster kid for a few weeks. And the party couldn't have been for anyone else. My name was on the banners. And they yelled out "surprise!" when Alice and I came in. I nearly jumped out of my ugly, scarred skin.

"Okay, Bella, this is our family." I didn't miss how she said _our_. I just let it go for now, however. "This is my mom and dad, Esme and Carlisle."

"Hello, Bella," the woman, Esme, said. "I know this must seem overwhelming to you, but we wanted to do what we could to make you feel welcome."

I didn't know what to say to this, so I just nodded and stayed quiet.

Alice continued on with her introductions. "This is Jasper and Rosalie. They were adopted ten years ago. This is Emmett. He turned eighteen before he could be adopted, but he is still one of the best big brothers ever. And Edward... Well, he is supposed to be here. He knew all about this and knew better than to not be here."

I couldn't blame him for not wanting to meet me. Who would want to?

_0*_0*_0*_0*_0*

**EPOV**

I refuse to go to the stupid party. We had one each time there was a new foster kid.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jasper, Emmett, and Rose, I just don't like some new person acting like they've known me their entire life. And that's how it will work. My family has been host to so many foster kids that I lost track of how many there have been. Every person who had come through had slowly decided that they should belong here in my family. And they didn't belong. We were complete how we were. I didn't want that to change.

This is _my_ house and _my_ family. This might sound mean and greedy, but that's how I felt. I can't help it that I feel this way, and even if I could, I don't know that I would want to.

It all starts the same way. My family brings someone home and they have a party to welcome them and make them feel more at home. The person is nervous for a few weeks, until they begin to soften due to my family's ever so warm hospitality. By the time they are supposed to leave, they walk around the house like they own it. And they don't own it.

So I figured that the new girl would be no different than the rest of them. How could she be any different? They all act the same after a while.

And then I met her. After that, as they say, it was history.

* * *

I was sitting in my room. I knew Alice would kill me, but I figured it would be less violent if I was still in the house, seeing as I had wanted to take off over an hour ago. She knew how I felt, yet she still made me be a part of all of this stuff.

I didn't make my feeling too obvious, because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But Alice could always tell. The two of us are more than just siblings or twins. The best way to describe it is that we are best friends. We can easily tell what the other is feeling without talking. It's not supernatural or anything, we have just been around each other so much that all it takes is a certain look and we understand what the other is trying to say. We usually just do this if there is something we want to say that we don't want anyone else to know. Every once in a while, however, we do it just to annoy people.

So, Alice really knew how I felt. And yet...

"Edward! Get your butt down here now, or else...!" Alice didn't have to finish that threat for me to know exactly what she would do. There is almost no line she wouldn't cross if I didn't do what she wanted when it came to stuff like this.

So I just decided to go down for a few minutes and see what new face I would have to get to know for a while. When I got to the party, I was quite surprised with what I saw.

At first glance – there was no polite way to say this – the girl was ugly. She had scars from some unknown tragedy covering all of the skin I could see. She had on jeans and a sweatshirt, so all I could really see was her face. After the initial shock however, I started to notice other things about her. Especially her eyes. There was something about those eyes.

I was usually a good reader at what people were thinking. I could just sort of, well, tell. Not with this girl, though. For some reason, I wasn't really able to figure out what she was thinking.

Except for those eyes. Through her eyes, I could see every emotion that she seemed to be feeling. Saying the eyes are the windows to the soul would be an understatement here. Like just now, she seemed to be feeling nervous about herself and the situation around her. Until she saw me. As soon as she saw me, there was some emotion that I didn't have time to label before she looked away. Something almost like longing though.

I couldn't look away from her eyes, even as Alice made the introductions.

"And this, Bella..." Alice's voice started to snap me back to the present and I noticed the rest of her face again. "This is my annoying twin brother, Edward. Edward, this is Bella."

How ironic. A name meaning beauty, when she would never be seen as such by the rest of the world. But the rest of the world probably would never see her as I had started to already.

This girl was going to capture my heart very fast.

The question was: Did I want her to?

* * *

**A/N: It's been way too long since I put something up, especially since this chapter has been sitting in my notebook for over a year now. Amazing what not doing homework will do some days, though, isn't it?**

**11-29-2012: I am not under any circumstances updating until I get at least one review. Don't mind if I don't get many, but really people? No reviews?**


	2. Further In

**BPOV**

It had been a few days, and I was still quite a bit uncomfortable in this new house. Not because they treated me badly, but because all of this is so different from what I am used to that I haven't been sure how to behave.

Most families stared at my scars constantly and obviously, or try to avoid looking at me altogether. The Cullen's, on the other hand, treat me as if I look normal. They invite me to join them in every activity they do, big or small. They always ask if I want to go to the store and buy groceries or come play some video game. I sometimes accept the activities they want me to join them on in the house, but never off of the property. I don't want them to have to deal with the stares and rumors that would start to go around. They are too nice for me to let that happen. They don't deserve to have to deal with the rumors that would go around about them because of me.

It won't be much longer that my presence would be forced on them. Just yesterday, I heard a part of a conversation between Alice and Edward.

"Alice, I'm not going to deal with this much longer!" Whatever Alice had said seemed to have set him off, because at this point, my attention was only drawn to them because of his yelling.

"Why do you keep agreeing to it, then?" Alice was much harder to hear, as she wasn't yelling, so I had to get a bit closer. Not that I was eavesdropping or anything.

"What am I supposed to say? No? You all want to keep letting foster kids come in, and I don't want to disappoint any of you."

"Mom and dad would gladly stop if they knew it bothered you this much."

"I know. But they really enjoy doing this, and I don't want to take this away from them."

Alice's voice got much quieter this time, as she had successfully started to calm Edward down. "They would stop for you and you know it. And you've never been so adamant about this before. Are you sure this isn't about who we have here this time?"

"No. Why would you say that?" Edward's voice was starting to get a little louder again.

"I saw how you look at Bella." Alice seemed to be taunting him now.

I had a good idea of what she meant here, even if her tone didn't make as much sense. Her reasons for taunting, almost teasing him, were beyond me. Her words however...

After the first night with the party, Edward had done his best to avoid me. And when he was around me, he stared. Constantly. His reaction to me was the only one of his family that made sense. I was used to the stares and avoidance. That's what Edward did.

His family, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

**EPOV**

How does Alice do that? I hadn't let anyone know what I thought of the girl. Although Alice just seems able to do that. She's able to guess what will happen a lot of the time, especially with me. Stupid twin thing again.

But, really, was pointing out that she knew about my feelings necessary? I was already aware of how I felt. What made it even worse was when she asked me: in my room, where anyone could hear me.

I shudder just to think of what we had been discussing within range of someone stumbling on our conversation and listening in. We should have held it where we usually have conversations we don't want people to hear. But of course, Alice didn't want to do things the easy way for me.

It was only the last part of our discussion that really bothered me. Alice started hinting at the idea that I might like the girl. Which I did. It was hard not to like the girl. Which, of course, was why I was avoiding her. I couldn't fall for someone who would be leaving soon. That was not a good idea. Not a good idea at all.

I've been using Alice to help me avoid the girl. I convinced her to let me know where she was most of the time, so I wouldn't have to see her and fall for her even more.

There were times, however, when I was in the same room as the girl. And all I could do was stare. These were the only times I allowed myself to think her name, as it fit her so perfectly. Bella. Pure beauty. I could tell she didn't see herself this way, which was sad, as she really was beautiful.

Her beauty that held me captive was getting more and more potent as time went by. A couple of hours ago, I proved this fact to myself yet again.

I went into the kitchen to get a snack. Just as I got there, I remembered that Alice had recently told me that the girl was hungry and was going to get a snack. But she had seen me by the time I made this connection, so I couldn't turn around and come back later. That would have been extremely rude.

Not that I wanted to leave and come back later. In fact, I should have wanted to leave so that I didn't fall for this girl any more than I already had. But I didn't want to leave. Not at all.

"Hello, Edward." She looked down as she talked, as if she was embarrassed, but I was used to this, so it didn't bother me too much.

"Hello, Bella." I had decided that even though I was avoiding her as much as possible, I would at least be cordial to her when we had to talk to each other. It was the least I could do for the girl I was falling in love with unwillingly.

Bella finally looked up at me and started blushing. I still couldn't figure out why she blushed when she saw me looking at her – okay, it was more like staring, but I couldn't help myself – as she never seemed to blush around anyone else. Surely she was used to people noticing how beautiful she was.

"Are you looking for something?" she asked when I still hadn't moved or stopped looking at her. "I-I can leave if you want me to. I d-don't mean to be a bother." She looked as if she was causing a problem.

"No, you're fine. I just wanted to get something to drink." I grabbed a can of pop and fled from the room before we had a conversation that would lead me to declare my undying love for her.

See? I had just fallen further in love with her in the last couple of minutes. Just from one short conversation that we had.

And Alice's smile as she passed me on the stairs told me she had heard our conversation and noticed my response to it.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so as a Christmas present, I decided to update this chapter, but if I don't get some reviews, I am just going to write the story for myself. I don't care how many reviews I get, but I do want some feedback on what you all think of the story.  
Not too much to ask, is it?  
This story might seem slow, but it will start to pick up speed shortly. There won't be much action in it, but there will most likely be a bit of drama, if I know myself and the story continues to go where I think it will go.  
So, as my dad likes to say...  
Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!  
May the new year be more blessed than any year yet.**


	3. Showing Interest

**BPOV**

Today, I have to start the process of dealing with yet another school. The high school was small enough that the Cullen's were able to make arrangements that allowed me to always be in a class with another Cullen. Which was nice of them, but not really necessary. People were going to stare at me and the scars I have all over me either way. But I guess it was the thought that counted.

Not only that, but apparently the Cullen I would be spending the most time with throughout the day was the one that seemed to stare at me whenever we were in the same room. I couldn't tell if this was on purpose or just how it worked out, but it was going to get annoying.

The best and worst part of the day seemed to be lunch. I was able to spend the entire time sitting with the Cullen's, who sat off to the side of the cafeteria at their own table. I didn't know if this was for me, or where they normally sat, but it was nice to get away from the annoying questions for awhile. But there were a lot more stares during lunch, so it was a little uncomfortable. I was used to the stares, I just hope that the rest didn't mind. They seemed pretty good at not noticing – or at least ignoring – the looks everyone was sending them.

What was even more odd was when people would be staring at me. I spent most of my time with Alice and Edward (as they were in the same grade as me), so I was best able to compare people's reactions around me according to which of those two was around me.

When Alice was the person that was with me, people would look at me and actually come up and talk for a little bit. It felt a little awkward at first, but everyone seemed to like Alice, so they were willing to put up with me to talk to her.

When I was with Edward on the other hand, people who would look at me always seemed to look quickly away. And no one came up to me to talk. A couple of people tried, but then they would suddenly turn around and walk away.

I was too worried about getting myself through the day to actually think on what was happening. But it did seem awfully strange.

Other than the obvious stares people were giving me, the day seemed to actually be going pretty well. Better than I thought it would at the very least. Of course, that all changed as soon as I hit the last period of my day at school – P.E.

P.E. is my worst class in general. I can't walk over a flat surface without tripping, so how do people continually think it is a good idea to let me play sports? However, Forks High School thought it would be a good idea to make the matters even worse for me. We had no choice but to wear shorts and a t-shirt. With scars covering all of my body, this isn't a very good thing. If people thought the scars they had seen were bad, I was going to be laughed at when they saw how bad the scars really were.

"Alice!" I whispered urgently as soon as we hit the locker room to change. "I can't wear shorts! Everyone will see all the scars. Please help me!"

"Bella, you're going to be fine. No one will make fun of you. I don't think Edward would let anyone anyways." Alice muttered the last part so quietly I wasn't sure I was supposed to hear it. Not that it made sense anyways. Why would Edward not let anyone make fun of me? He's the one that likes me the least. This family really made no sense.

**EPOV**

Today had been... interesting. Alice was the one who had arranged the girl's schedule, so of course we had a lot of classes together. Okay, so most of our classes were together. Sometimes, I wonder if it is really worth claiming Alice as my sister. But then I remember how much of a favor she did me by making our schedules so similar. I would be able to protect the girl from everyone who would want to get close to her, whether it be to ask her out on a date or make fun of her – her words, not mine; there is no reason anyone would make fun of her. She is too beautiful.

I had to spend the entire day glaring at everyone. They kept trying to walk up to the girl. Any time someone tried to get close, I would glare. Word quickly spread that I was overprotective of the 'new girl.' Glad they all figured it out so fast.

She seemed to be doing okay all day, getting more and more comfortable as the day went on. Normally, the fact that one of the foster kids was getting comfortable in my territory annoyed me, but with her, I wished she would feel more comfortable. She still looked nervous. I had no idea why. People were staying well away from her, seeing as I wouldn't let anyone near her except my family.

The last class of the day was gym. It didn't seem to be a big deal, I would just have to glare at everyone while she was less covered than usual.

Then I got the text from Alice. _'Edward, we have a problem. Bella really has scars __everywhere. And she has to wear shorts and a t-shirt. Do something!'_

I sent her a message back. _'No one will go anywhere near her.'_

I made sure to get out to the gym as fast as possible so I could find an out of the way area for us to be before the teacher got out. As I watched the two girls walk out, I started to smile, as I hadn't seen Bella in a few minutes. I'll admit it, I am definitely in love with the girl. And that it was nice to have her in the room, so that I could say her name in my head again, instead of calling her 'that girl.' Maybe I should make the change permanent and just call her Bella. I think I will.

I had to stop smiling however, as people started to notice Bella. And not in the way that they had been all day. They finally realized how many scars she really had. I felt bad that she had to go through the pain of being teased about her looks every day. Especially when she was so beautiful.

So I did what I had been doing all day. I started to glare at anybody who had started to talk about her. By the time Bella and Alice made it over to where I was standing, pretty much everybody had stopped the whispering. Which didn't mean I had stopped the glaring. I had to make sure they knew not to mess with Bella. She was too beautiful to be laughed at for scars.

"Hi Alice, Bella," I said as they finally got over to me.

"Hi," Bella almost whispered. She must have been really embarrassed by everybody. That would be fixed.

"Hi, Edward!" Alice yelled as she came up to give me an unexpected hug. "Thanks. I think most of the whispering is done for now. Just keep an eye out. She's really nervous. And stop being quite so obvious. She knows that your up to something." Alice whispered this last part in my ear as fast as she could.

"I don't care if I'm obvious. I want people to leave her alone. What's so wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong if you want the entire school to know how you feel," Alice said more loudly as she let go of me.

"What would you like me to do? Just let it be known how I feel? I don't think that is such a good idea right now."

"W-what are you talking about?" Bella asked quietly.

"Just something that happened a couple weeks ago. Don't worry," Alice lied smoothly.

Something had changed for me in the last couple of days, and Alice knew it. She had noticed I didn't attempt to avoid Bella anymore, and I actually used her name when she wasn't in the room. Which, of course, made Alice extremely happy. She was determined to get me together with Bella. I wanted to wait a little bit first. Make her more comfortable before I overload her with emotions.

Alice disagreed. She thought that Bella should know how I felt about her.

I decided to come back to that train of thought. I had more important issues to deal with right now. Like the fact that people were still staring at Bella. I went back to glaring at anyone looking over at us.

As class started, I learned the other reason Bella seemed to be so nervous about gym. She was clumsy. Meaning she fell a lot. Meaning I had a reason to be close to her, so that she wouldn't hit the ground.

Every time I touched her, I felt some weird electricity go through me. It was really weird, but at the same time, I enjoyed it.

A couple of times Bella would pull away suddenly, as if something had shocked her. Maybe she felt it, too.

I didn't have much time to think about what the electricity meant during gym, as I was so concentrated on not letting Bella fall, but afterwords, I spent a lot of time just thinking about it and what it could mean.

The time that Bella is with us just seemed to get more interesting.

* * *

**A/N: I post this chapter for a couple of reasons. 1. I am really nice and want to give you a chapter, even though I wonder if you really want it. 2. I am giving everyone a last warning about the reviews. I don't want much, just some feedback. 3. To give you all the heads up that my updating will be even more spread out because I am on day one of my online class, and am already sick of my computer. So please don't expect much out of me for a while. I have to stare at the screen for 6-8 hours a day. Chances are I won't feel much like writing chapters. However, if I get reviews I will be much more willing to work on chapters in between homework when I can't stand environmental science anymore. It's your choice people. I can do things other than work on the story if I don't feel like you want to see the story.**

**Gotta go take some tylenol now.**

**Hope you enjoy your day.**


	4. Beginnings

BEGINNING

**EPOV**

The weekend after Bella's first day at school, Alice decided to come up with a "brilliant" (her words, not mine) plan to get Bella and me together and alone. She was going to take Bella to lunch.

Now, one might ask what this has to do with me, especially since I am not actually going to go with them to this lunch. This is where Alice's plan comes in. Really, it's quite simple. I come in partway through the meal, and Alice leaves when Rose shows up to go shopping. I'm sure that Bella will catch on to what Alice is doing to her. It seems pretty obvious to me. And Bella is pretty observant. I didn't want to go along with this in the beginning, but there is no fighting with Alice. She's ruthless when it comes to her plans. It's easier to pick and choose my battles.

So that was how I found myself driving to Port Angeles Saturday afternoon. I was still worried about Bella's response to this whole idea, but I was excited too. I knew I had done something to bother her, and I wanted to figure out what it was. If this is what it took to find out, then I was going to do it.

Not to mention that I had no problem being alone with her. No problem at all.

I just hoped she wouldn't hate my scheming sister after this. Or me, for going along with it.

When I pulled up to the restaurant, I took a minute to calm myself down. I was way too eager to spend time with Bella.

After calming myself down a little so that I didn't look too eager and excited, I went in. When I gave my name to the waiter, I was escorted to where Bella and Alice were sitting.

"Mind if I sit with you?" I asked when I was close enough to the table for them to easily hear me.

"Hi, Edward! Sure. Sit here by me!" Alice was a little too excited. Meaning she was about to let Bella know what she had done in terms of setting us up.

"Hi, Bella. Hope you're enjoying your meal." I really wanted to make Bella feel comfortable around me, and I figured the best way to do that was to have a casual conversation. Bella simply nodded, too surprised to actually speak at the moment. "Alice, don't you have a shopping trip with Rose to go on?" I asked to get rid of her as fast as possible.

"Oh, yeah! I can't believe I forgot about that! Bella, do you mind if Edward takes you home? I'm going to be a while, and I think he's going straight home after this."

"Sure, that's fine I guess." Bella didn't sound too sure of what she was saying, but she didn't seem to mind. Just slightly annoyed with Alice for springing this on her. I couldn't blame her for that.

Alice jumped up and skipped off merrily. I don't know if she was more excited about setting Bella and I up on a "date," or about going shopping. Probably was pretty even.

A couple of minutes after Alice was out of sight, I attempted to start up a conversation, if only to get rid of the awkward air. "So, what-"

"Alice did this, didn't she?" Bella said just as I started to talk.

"Yeah." I felt really bad about this plan again. Stupid Alice.

"Why would she do that? I'm sure she knows you don't like me."

"You really think I don't like you?" She had to be absolutely crazy to think that. "That's the exact opposite of the truth."

33333

**BPOV:**

That came as a surprise. He likes me. He doesn't _like me_ like me, but still. That's something. Especially since he has been ignoring me since I arrived at his house. Which reminds me...

"Then why have you been ignoring me all this time?"

"I didn't like you." Okay. That's a little surprising. He just said that he liked me – or something like that – and now he's saying he didn't like me. This isn't confusing at all. "You came into my world, an unwelcome intrusion. I didn't really like that someone new was going to be in my life, simply because every new person that came in tried to take over my life and family. I've been getting sick of all the foster kids coming in."

I was starting to get a little nervous of what he was actually thinking of me. Was he just being nice saying he liked me? I wouldn't be surprised. That is what people normally do. Be nice to me until they can get rid of me.

This line of thinking seemed to show on my face, because Edward immediately got worried and started talking faster.

"Listen. When I saw you, I wanted to keep this point of view about people coming into my life. I tried so hard. But you made it so difficult that I eventually gave up and started to want you here. And it was so frustrating because you didn't seem to want to take any more from my family than absolutely necessary.

"But I wish you would. You are becoming more and more a part of the family every day. We all are starting to love you Bella. Please believe me. You have changed all of our lives for the better."

I was amazed that anyone could feel like I was worthwhile, so it took me a couple of seconds to realize what he said. Love? There was no way anyone could love me. No way anyone could find me loveable. I was damaged, and it was easy to see.

"Bella, you may not believe me right now, but you are worthwhile." How did he do that? He seemed to know what I was thinking. Must be obvious. People always could read my face easily.

I was starting to get uncomfortable with this entire thing. Not that I knew what to make of any of it. From Alice deciding she was going to take me out to lunch to being left alone with Edward and having this conversation, this had been a really weird day. I knew it would take some time to sort through all the information that had been thrown at me today by Edward, but I knew that the best way to even start was to get home to some quiet so that I could think.

"Do you mind if we go home now?"

Edward looked a little worried why I would want to leave so soon, but he nevertheless agreed.

I was still sorting out everything that had happened when Alice came bursting into my room with yet another idea.

"Bella, everyone wants to go out to eat! Are you going to come?"

"I don't really -"

"Bella, we aren't eating in Forks, so you are definitely coming. You don't have a choice."

"Alice, I don't want to intrude on anything in your family."

"Nonsense. Bella, you are a part of our family. And, even if you weren't, you wouldn't be intruding. So, therefore, you are coming. End of story." She paused for a second, then decided to say something more. "Oh, and Edward wants you to come."

She then promptly skipped out of the room as I sat on my bed mentally cursing her out.

I didn't want to go, but Alice had apparently left me no choice.

Little did I know this meal out would change my life dramatically again, but this time for the better.

* * *

**A/N: So, I really do feel bad about not updating. Really, I do. Just a lot has decided to come up lately. College has decided to rear its ugly head. And I'm in the middle of working out a 504 plan*. Not really fun.**

**And as much as this is a crappy reason to not update, I just couldn't figure out how to say what I wanted to say, even though I now know exactly where the story is going. Not to mention I left my notes at home when I came back to college. So, yeah. Once I decided to sit down and actually work on this, it got a bit easier, and finally just started to flow.**

**Promise to start updating more often, especially if you all promise to start reviewing more frequently. :)**

***For those of you who don't know and are even slightly curious what a 504 is, it's an academic accommodations plan to help students with learning disabilities. Mine isn't major, I just have ADHD which affects my reading comprehension. So I am getting help with tests and understanding what my profs mean with the questions. Nothing wrong with me, just can't concentrate as much as most people.**


	5. Meeting

MEETING

**BPOV**

After five minutes of pounding on my door, Alice finally threatened to barge into my room, no matter the damage done. Right after she had yelled that, she started talking to someone too quietly for me to hear.

Then, she knocked quietly on my door again. Only, it wasn't her.

"Bella, do you mind if I come in?" It was Edward.

"S-sure. Go ahead."

He opened the door and came in slowly. "Why don't we just talk for a couple of minutes?" He grabbed my desk chair and sat facing me. "Why don't you want to come with us to dinner? You know you're more than welcome to join us any time you like."

"I don't want to intrude or make anyone uncomfortable."

In the short time since Edward and I had had our talk, we had become extremely close. I still didn't understand why he wanted to get to know me, but I was going to enjoy it while it lasted. Because eventually, it would end. He would wonder why he wanted to be friends with me in the first place.

"You won't make anyone uncomfortable. We want you there. Why do you think you would make anyone uncomfortable?"

"Edward, you might not notice the stares people give me, but I do. I can tell everyone is wondering what happened to me. I don't want you and your family to have to deal with that, especially because it will go on after I leave. People will still look at you strangely as they wonder why you were with me in the first place. I care about you all too much to let that happen to you."

I was almost in tears by the end of the little speech. It hurt to have to say this out loud. It had become my best kept secret. No one had ever heard me admit this before.

Edward immediately came over to sit beside me on the bed. He then pulled me into his arms and let me cry myself out. It felt nice to finally be held. It had been so long since someone had truly given me a hug.

What felt even better than just getting a hug is the weird electricity that had been shooting between the two of us ever since the first time he had touched me. It had shocked me at first, but now it was oddly comforting.

"Bella, please don't think like that." I could hear a slight smile in his voice. I started to interrupt, but he continued quickly on. "They only stare at you because of how beautiful you are. Anyone who doesn't see your beauty just doesn't want to admit you are so much more beautiful than they will ever admit to themselves. And why do you think you're leaving us. That's not ever going to happen. I can't and won't let that happen."

"You realize I have no idea what you really mean by that? There's no way any of what you are saying could be true." I was amazed at what he was saying. There couldn't be truth to it, yet when I finally sat up and looked at his face, I could tell he believed what he just told me was true.

"I know you think I'm wrong, but eventually you'll see I'm right." He took a deep breath before continuing on. "Now, would you kindly accompany me as we meet our family in Port Angeles for dinner?"

"I would be honored to, kind sir." We were both laughing over the formal language we were using. I hadn't missed how he said _our, _but I decided to let it be for now. It felt nice to be considered a part of a family, even if just for a short time.

We walked out to his car, and headed off to meet his family for dinner. We spent the entire ride just talking about anything and everything.

I was laughing at a joke Edward had been telling as we walked into the restaurant. The entire Cullen clan was staring at me in surprise, as they hadn't seen me smile much, much less be laughing so freely.

All of the sudden, though, I stopped in my tracks. There, sitting at the table, was one of my greatest fears.

333333333

**EPOV**

Bella and I had been laughing and joking all the way to Port Angeles. As we were walking to meet my family, however, she suddenly froze. I didn't know if my family had caught what happened, but I didn't care. I needed to take care of my Bella.

My Bella? I would have to think about that one later.

As I turned her away so she couldn't see whatever it was that scared her. "Bella! What's wrong?"

"I-I can't."

"Remember what I promised you?"

"Yeah."

I had told her that I would take her back home at any time if she became uncomfortable with something. No questions asked. "Do you want to go home right now?"

"No, we came all the way out here. We are going to enjoy this meal."

I smiled slightly at her determination to eat this meal with the family. "Will you at least tell me what is bothering you?"

"Who's the guy talking with your family?"

"That's Charlie Swan, Chief of Police in Forks." I answered automatically while I tried to figure out why she was asking me this. Then it came to me. For some reason, she didn't like police. "Are you sure you don't want to go home? If not, we can sit as far away from him as possible."

"Okay. I think I can handle that."

"Good. Let's go enjoy our dinner."

I wrapped my arm around her waist in an attempt to comfort her. It seemed to work to an extent because as we drew closer to the family, she started to lean into me more. Alice happened to turn towards us and beam, causing the rest to look and see what had caught her attention.

When we had walked up to the table, Ii started the introductions. "Chief Swan, this is Bella. Bella, this is Charlie Swan, Chief of Police."

He seemed to notice Bella's nervousness, so he didn't offer his hand to shake Bella's. She surprised me, however, by offering her own hand. I was so proud of her that I didn't care that my family would give me grief later for the huge grin on my face.

Bella looked up at me with a questioning look on her face to see if what she wanted to do next would be okay. I snuck a quick look at my family and saw them all smiling and giving me a silent okay. I looked back at Bella and gave her an encouraging nod.

Bella then asked the question that would end up changing her life.

"Chief Swan, would you like to join us for dinner?"

"Thanks. I would love to."

As dinner went on, Bella seemed to become a little more comfortable around Charlie. Still not completely comfortable, but the way she was responding to him gave me an idea. Charlie Swan really could end up changing Bella's life. As long as they both agreed. I really hoped they would.

* * *

**A/N: So, yeah. Really sorry about the long time since I last updated. Life sorta got in the way. Listing everything would double the length of the story, so I won't.  
This chapter is dedicated to a friend of mine who died in a car crash, saving a couple of my friends by taking the brunt of the crash himself. I couldn't go to the funeral since I live around 700 miles away. It's been a big shock to my system, but I have no choice but to learn to live.  
On a happier note, I have a couple of questions for all of you. First, do you think I should cut my hair? I realize you have never seen me, but I am sure you can still give me your opinion. Second, this story is drawing to a close. However, I can stretch it out a bit by adding more from the other Cullens, as they haven't really been in the story much so far. Third, have you figured out what is going to happen?  
Until next time!**


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